Hello,
I've used the wiki to install portage and system.
But even if I use gentoolkit-dev to change the gtk+ ebuild, it gives the following error:
emerge -pv gtk+
These are the packages that I would merge, in order:
Calculating dependencies
!!! All ebuilds that could satisfy "gtk+" have been masked.
!!! One of the following masked packages is required to complete your request:
- x11-libs/gtk+-2.6.10 (masked by: package.mask, ~ppc keyword)
- x11-libs/gtk+-1.2.10-r10 (masked by: package.mask, missing keyword)
- x11-libs/gtk+-1.2.10-r11 (masked by: package.mask, missing keyword)
- x11-libs/gtk+-2.6.8 (masked by: package.mask, missing keyword)
- x11-libs/gtk+-2.8.6 (masked by: package.mask)
- x11-libs/gtk+-2.6.7 (masked by: package.mask, missing keyword)
For more information, see MASKED PACKAGES section in the emerge man page or
section 2.2 "Software Availability" in the Gentoo Handbook.

I though using gentoolkit-dev would at least permit me to try and compile any package.

- There are many different versions of gtk+, and all are masked.
- Some are masked by keywords, which you can make portage accept by putting an ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="~keyword" (for example ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="~ppc" when you're using portage for Mac OS X on a PowerPC based machine) before the emerge command, as TheX already indicated.
- All are also masked by the config file /usr/portage/profiles/package.mask. This usually means that you REALLY don't want to try out these packages, because they are not working. If you want to give it a shot anyway, you should create a file /etc/portage/package.unmask and add the package name in it (e.g. =x11-libs/gtk+-2.6.10 or simply x11-libs/gtk+). Then you should be able to emerge the package alright.

I've made the experience though, that once you try and emerge some of these masked packages, the emerging stops with a compiler error. I've tried transcode and vorbis-tools, but both to no avail. The packages leading up to the wanted packages never compile cleanly. I thought this was a compiler issue, so I changed the /usr/bin/cc and /usr/bin/gcc symlink to gcc-3.3, but it still doesn't work. If you have any suggestions, I'd appreciate them.

All The Best._________________when you hear hooves outside the window, think horses, not zebras

Thank you very much for the help, Nebukadnezar.
The situation HAS improved, but now I'm puzzled by something else;

emerge -pv gtk+

These are the packages that I would merge, in order:

Calculating dependencies -
!!! All ebuilds that could satisfy ">=x11-libs/cairo-0.9.2" have been masked.
!!! One of the following masked packages is required to complete your request:
- x11-libs/cairo-1.0.2 (masked by: ~ppc keyword)

For more information, see MASKED PACKAGES section in the emerge man page or
section 2.2 "Software Availability" in the Gentoo Handbook.
!!! (dependency required by "x11-libs/gtk+-2.8.6" [ebuild])

The problem with cairo is due to the package being masked by the ~ppc keyword, so you have to make portage accept it, either once for this merge (see above), or permanently by recording it in the /etc/portage/package.keywords file. See the emerge man page for the syntax_________________when you hear hooves outside the window, think horses, not zebras